The Ultra-ATA 8.4 gigabyte DiamondMax 2160 88400D8 is the largest member of Maxtor's DiamondMax 2160 series. The drive features 5200 rpm rotation speed, which is the typical maximum found in today's ATA drives. Internally, the data is stored on four platters, each holding up to 2.1 GB of data. The seek time is quoted at 9.7 millseconds or less. A 256k buffer wraps up the collection of popularly quoted specs. Maxtor backs the drive with a 3 year warranty.

Maxtor drives are widely available at many computer/electronics superstores. The retail version comes in large red packaging containing the drive itself along with a bunch of other goodies. Documentation consists of an easy to follow install guide and a quick reference sheet detailing jumper settings. A copy of MaxBlast software automates installation and provides necessary overlay software for machines with older BIOSes. Finally, 3.5"-to-5.25" mounting rails and a 19" 40-pin IDE cable round out the package.

With this review we're debuting our more comprehensive suite of tests, consisting of ZDBop's WinBench 98 and Adaptec's Threadmark 2.0. The two benchmarks were run in both Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. Under both operating systems, built-in ATA busmastering was enabled. The drive was partitioned into a single volume of maximum size. The average of 5 trials is presented below.

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Coincidentally, the Business Disk WinMark 98 result under Windows 98 for the 8.4 GB DiamondMax is exactly the same score achieved by its smaller 6.4 gig brother reviewed in the 6.4GB ATA drive roundup. On the High-End Disk WinMark 98, the drive posted a higher but negligible score. Overall, the drive managed to keep parity with the smaller 6.4 gig version despite somewhat lower scores on the low-level tests. The drive operated unobtrusively, with no high-pitched whine nor any loud grinding noise when seeking.

Applications bloat to larger and larger sizes every day it seems, forcing users to look for more storage space. The Maxtor DiamondMax 88400D8 provides competent performance at a decent price. Users looking to expand the storage of their machine without laying out a load of cash should definitely keep this drive in mind.